UKC

Hi, so to cut it short does anyone have any tips for getting over the fear of doing highballs? Grading around 7A so finding its got a lot more complex moves in which i fear to fall off and land badly.

In reply to ReubenClimbs:

F7A highballs? F*ck that

In reply to ReubenClimbs:

get fit and climb 7C so 7A feels easy.

In reply to ReubenClimbs:

Work the moves on a rope? Highballing 7A when that's your max grade seems crazy, especially if it scares you.

In reply to ReubenClimbs:

Get more mates with more mats

In reply to ReubenClimbs:
More mats. Ideally climb with a group so you have at least 6-8 of them if that's what you need. But, if you get the right ones, you can easily carry four yourself.

In reply
Highballs? F*ck that.

In reply to ReubenClimbs:

You should be afraid. It’s risky.

In reply to ReubenClimbs:

A top rope?

In reply to ReubenClimbs:

Embrace the fear;
Eat the fear!
Become the fear!

You are the fear!

Alternatively... Build a bouncy castle underneath it.

In reply to ReubenClimbs:

Try sport climbing?

In reply to ReubenClimbs:
So one thing that helps the head is to obviously be really positive. No I mean REALLY POSITIVE.

If your barely clinging on but you know the next hold is something hard but you can hold it what do you do? Go for it, think or get off?

Freddy Flintoff said ‘It’s all in the head’. He bowled best when he was most confident, not necessarily when fit.

I don’t climb 7A but I know that if I’d gone for the crimp at the top of Rippled Wall I’d have held it. I didn’t because I was alone, (partner in Yosemite!!!) and my knee hurts and I was falling onto one mat and I felt negative.

I know though that I would have held that hold and finished if I had.

I walked away and did Snatch, the same grade but lower so I felt comfortable putting everything into it. Even then confidence stopped my first try.

To get positive I use Mantra (I could, I can, I will - read Bounce by Matt Syed), see myself climbing successfully , meditate to calm the mind while stretching or force confidence etc.

Partners, positive groups, more mats and more fitness help but confidence and will lead to hope which is HUGE.

Billy

In reply to ReubenClimbs:
By definition, you climb highballs in a different way to boulder problems. You climb them as if you might fall off, thus enabling you to land well on the pads. Landing badly, even on pads, from a highballing sort of height is not going to be good for your health. Big slapping moves generally don't happen. Above a certain height, you tend to climb them as if you were soloing, though with the thought in your mind that you could affect a retreat more easily with some down-climbing/a long, controlled drop onto the pads.

Thinking about the highballs I've done, I can't say that many (if any) have involved moves of that sort of difficulty at any great height. On things like Psycho, Death Drop, Verge of Tranquility etc - the moves that you don't want to fall off are all English 5c or 6a max; so probably no more than Font 6B at a push. They still felt scary to me!
Given the max grade on your profile, it sounds like you want to practice those moves on a rope and treat it more as a headpoint protected by pads.